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THE POST Athens, Ohio • Wednesday, November 8, 2000 Briefly Scotland Yard stops diamond heist and leaves thieves frustrated. Page 3 Sports Women might run further distances for the cross country team. Page 1 Election 2000 Close election calls for a recount BY AMANDA IACONE THE POST Recounts in Florida, the deciding state in the 2000 election, made it impossible to know for certain early this morning who will be the next president of the United States. In the closest presidential race of the century, about 50,000 popular votes separated Vice President A1 Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush at press time. Gore lead 47,176,353 to 47,121,669 as of 4:50 a.m. Florida originally went to Bush around dinnertime yesterday. Florida then retracted that announcement until Bush took Florida again, sending Athens Democrats home around 2 a.m. But the state began to recount its absentee ballots before midnight. Vice President Gore withdrew his concession speech to wait and see what the final count in Florida would be. Florida law states that if a candidate is within one percentage point of his opponent the ballots are automatically recounted. Florida Secretary of the State Katherine Harris reported a difference of 560 votes between the two candidates, with Bush leading 2,902,733 to 2,902,509. The state of Florida carries 25 electoral votes while the last two states to return their poles, Oregon and Wisconsin, carry 18 between them. Not including Florida, Oregon and Wisconsin, Gore lead the race 249 to 246 electoral votes. But without the 25 votes from Florida, Gore cannot get the 270 votes needed to win in the Electoral College. A handful of states were up for grabs as the race neared its last hours including Oregon, Florida, Nevada, lowa and Wisconsin. Bush won in Ohio, as Lewis Randolph, a political science professor at Ohio University, expected. "It doesn't shock me about Ohio," he said. "Ohio is historically a Republican state." Bush also took Tennessee, Gore's home state. Gore's promise to enforce civil rights laws in his 1994 acceptance speech may explain why the southern state did not vote for its own senator, Randolph said. "It's a throwback to '94," he said. "Gore said he would enforce civil rights laws." Another OU political science professorprofessor and former Democratic advisor to White House staff Mike Burton said southern states, except Florida, usually vote Republican. "The bottom line is that Tennessee is a southern state," Burton said. As poll results slowly trickled in from across the country, Athens political party members waited anxiously to see how their candidates fared. But Athens Republicans were optimistic. OU junior Shane Skogland said he did not think there were any surprises in Ohio. "We're very happy about Ohio," he said. By 1 a.m. the race was so close that two news services reported different electoral counts. One reported that Bush and Gore were tied at 242 and the other reported Bush leading 246 to 242. The same five states remained to report their results. Todd Williams, a local Republican, said he was surprised at how close the race was. "It's not as clear cut as I thought it would be," said Williams. "Gore is actually doing good." Williams also said because the race was so close throughout the campaign, more voters went to the polls. Votes for Ralph Nader made a difference against (lore, said Lauren Dikis, president of OU College Democrats. "Without the votes Nader detracted from Gore, we would have won more states," she said. But local Democrats were not intimidated by all the red Bush states on the electoral maps displayed on TV, said Melissa Long, OU sophomore."It's relieving to know even though Bush is winning it's only by a small percentage," Long said. The race is going to be tight all the way, said Larry Bycofski of Athens. "It's gonna be one of those cases where you go to bed a loser and you wake up a winner," Bycofski said. ► Around Athens FOR LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS, SEE PAGE 6 PAUL SANCYA/AP ABOVE: While at a Democratic party in Detroit, Democratic campaign workers Chris Traci, left, and Andrea Zuniga, both of Washington, react to television projections that presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush had defeated Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore early this morning. But the vote was deemed too close to call as of 4 a.m., and at press time a winner was not declared. TIM PRICE/THE POST LEFT: Erin Schutte, Ohio University freshman, casts her first vote in a presidential election. Schutte was one of hundreds of people who voted in Baker University Center yesterday. Source: CNN.com Some not allowed to vote due to confusion during registration BY PHILIP ELLIOTT THE POST Ohio University senior Andrea M. Smith went to vote in yesterday's general election because she wanted to make her impact, she said. Instead, she was turned away from a polling location because election officials told her she was not registered. "I am infuriated because I feel very strongly about this election," Smith said. She registered when she got her new license this summer on July 31 at the Athens Bureau of Motor Vehicles office, 749 E. State St. "When I got my license, they asked me if I wanted to vote," she said. "They told me I was OK. I filled out what they gave me and I gave it back to them." Smith attempted to register through the Bureau of Motor Vehicle's Motor Voter project. After drivers complete the paperwork, the forms are mailed or hand delivered to the boards of election, said Julie Stebbins, spokeswoman for the BMV. In Ohio, 95,730 motorists participated in the program from January to June 30, she said. More than 1 million people have registered through this program since its inception in 1995, she said. "There's a paper trail," Stebbins said. "There are all kinds of people involved. This could've happened in the mail, in the deputy registrar's office or the board of elections." Though it is unfortunate Smith and others in her situation were unable to vote, Smith should have known something was not right when she did not get paperwork from the board, Stebbins said. But OU senior Joy Wiss said she called her New Jersey board of elections twice to cast an absentee ballot and twice was denied. Wiss' father called after the first application for an absentee ballot, received no response, and Wiss applied again, she said. "I've been following the election the whole time," she said. "I am so disgusted because I don't know how they couldn't have gotten the Would-be VisCom students may have to transfer BY BRITTANY YINGLING THE POST Ohio University students who wish to transfer into OU's School of Visual Communications will have to turn elsewhere, as faculty deal with this year's inflated enrollment by denying admission to transfer students.Larry Nighswander, director of the School of Visual Communications, said transfer students will not be admitted until the School of Visual CAMPUS Communications reaches its target enrollment of 200 students for its eight faculty members. Eight faculty members currently teach the more than 375 students who are enrolled in the school, he said. Nighswander notified 51 OU students Nov. 2 of the faculty's decision via an e-mail explaining the situation. "I've never seen such a barrage of SOURCE: Institutional Research office and THE POST Larry Nighswander, Director of School of Visual Communications CALENDAR ■ 7 p.m. Newman Community, meeting, Christ the King Parish Center, 75 Stewart St. ■ 7 p.m. Society of Professional Journalists, relaxation technique program, 111 Scripps Hall ■ 7 p.m. the Residents' Action Council, meeting, 334 Baker University Center ■ 7:30 p.m. Amnesty International, campaign against torture, 130 Bentley Hall ■ 8 p.m. School of Theater, "The Glass Menagerie," Baker Theater, Kantner Hall INSIDE COLUMN 2 SPORTS 8 CROSSWORD PUZZLE 9 COMICS 9 CLASSIFIEDS g_ TODAY , High: 68 Low: 57 TOMORROW Showers likely. ■ Cloudy I For weather updates, call 593-1717 ! SEE VOTE, PAGE 4 SEE VISCOM, PAGE 4 POSTSCRIPT It's 6 a.m., do you know who your president is? THE POST ON THE WEB httpi/Ahepoat. baker.ohtou.adu

THE POST Athens, Ohio • Wednesday, November 8, 2000 Briefly Scotland Yard stops diamond heist and leaves thieves frustrated. Page 3 Sports Women might run further distances for the cross country team. Page 1 Election 2000 Close election calls for a recount BY AMANDA IACONE THE POST Recounts in Florida, the deciding state in the 2000 election, made it impossible to know for certain early this morning who will be the next president of the United States. In the closest presidential race of the century, about 50,000 popular votes separated Vice President A1 Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush at press time. Gore lead 47,176,353 to 47,121,669 as of 4:50 a.m. Florida originally went to Bush around dinnertime yesterday. Florida then retracted that announcement until Bush took Florida again, sending Athens Democrats home around 2 a.m. But the state began to recount its absentee ballots before midnight. Vice President Gore withdrew his concession speech to wait and see what the final count in Florida would be. Florida law states that if a candidate is within one percentage point of his opponent the ballots are automatically recounted. Florida Secretary of the State Katherine Harris reported a difference of 560 votes between the two candidates, with Bush leading 2,902,733 to 2,902,509. The state of Florida carries 25 electoral votes while the last two states to return their poles, Oregon and Wisconsin, carry 18 between them. Not including Florida, Oregon and Wisconsin, Gore lead the race 249 to 246 electoral votes. But without the 25 votes from Florida, Gore cannot get the 270 votes needed to win in the Electoral College. A handful of states were up for grabs as the race neared its last hours including Oregon, Florida, Nevada, lowa and Wisconsin. Bush won in Ohio, as Lewis Randolph, a political science professor at Ohio University, expected. "It doesn't shock me about Ohio," he said. "Ohio is historically a Republican state." Bush also took Tennessee, Gore's home state. Gore's promise to enforce civil rights laws in his 1994 acceptance speech may explain why the southern state did not vote for its own senator, Randolph said. "It's a throwback to '94," he said. "Gore said he would enforce civil rights laws." Another OU political science professorprofessor and former Democratic advisor to White House staff Mike Burton said southern states, except Florida, usually vote Republican. "The bottom line is that Tennessee is a southern state," Burton said. As poll results slowly trickled in from across the country, Athens political party members waited anxiously to see how their candidates fared. But Athens Republicans were optimistic. OU junior Shane Skogland said he did not think there were any surprises in Ohio. "We're very happy about Ohio," he said. By 1 a.m. the race was so close that two news services reported different electoral counts. One reported that Bush and Gore were tied at 242 and the other reported Bush leading 246 to 242. The same five states remained to report their results. Todd Williams, a local Republican, said he was surprised at how close the race was. "It's not as clear cut as I thought it would be," said Williams. "Gore is actually doing good." Williams also said because the race was so close throughout the campaign, more voters went to the polls. Votes for Ralph Nader made a difference against (lore, said Lauren Dikis, president of OU College Democrats. "Without the votes Nader detracted from Gore, we would have won more states," she said. But local Democrats were not intimidated by all the red Bush states on the electoral maps displayed on TV, said Melissa Long, OU sophomore."It's relieving to know even though Bush is winning it's only by a small percentage," Long said. The race is going to be tight all the way, said Larry Bycofski of Athens. "It's gonna be one of those cases where you go to bed a loser and you wake up a winner," Bycofski said. ► Around Athens FOR LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS, SEE PAGE 6 PAUL SANCYA/AP ABOVE: While at a Democratic party in Detroit, Democratic campaign workers Chris Traci, left, and Andrea Zuniga, both of Washington, react to television projections that presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush had defeated Democratic candidate Vice President Al Gore early this morning. But the vote was deemed too close to call as of 4 a.m., and at press time a winner was not declared. TIM PRICE/THE POST LEFT: Erin Schutte, Ohio University freshman, casts her first vote in a presidential election. Schutte was one of hundreds of people who voted in Baker University Center yesterday. Source: CNN.com Some not allowed to vote due to confusion during registration BY PHILIP ELLIOTT THE POST Ohio University senior Andrea M. Smith went to vote in yesterday's general election because she wanted to make her impact, she said. Instead, she was turned away from a polling location because election officials told her she was not registered. "I am infuriated because I feel very strongly about this election," Smith said. She registered when she got her new license this summer on July 31 at the Athens Bureau of Motor Vehicles office, 749 E. State St. "When I got my license, they asked me if I wanted to vote," she said. "They told me I was OK. I filled out what they gave me and I gave it back to them." Smith attempted to register through the Bureau of Motor Vehicle's Motor Voter project. After drivers complete the paperwork, the forms are mailed or hand delivered to the boards of election, said Julie Stebbins, spokeswoman for the BMV. In Ohio, 95,730 motorists participated in the program from January to June 30, she said. More than 1 million people have registered through this program since its inception in 1995, she said. "There's a paper trail," Stebbins said. "There are all kinds of people involved. This could've happened in the mail, in the deputy registrar's office or the board of elections." Though it is unfortunate Smith and others in her situation were unable to vote, Smith should have known something was not right when she did not get paperwork from the board, Stebbins said. But OU senior Joy Wiss said she called her New Jersey board of elections twice to cast an absentee ballot and twice was denied. Wiss' father called after the first application for an absentee ballot, received no response, and Wiss applied again, she said. "I've been following the election the whole time," she said. "I am so disgusted because I don't know how they couldn't have gotten the Would-be VisCom students may have to transfer BY BRITTANY YINGLING THE POST Ohio University students who wish to transfer into OU's School of Visual Communications will have to turn elsewhere, as faculty deal with this year's inflated enrollment by denying admission to transfer students.Larry Nighswander, director of the School of Visual Communications, said transfer students will not be admitted until the School of Visual CAMPUS Communications reaches its target enrollment of 200 students for its eight faculty members. Eight faculty members currently teach the more than 375 students who are enrolled in the school, he said. Nighswander notified 51 OU students Nov. 2 of the faculty's decision via an e-mail explaining the situation. "I've never seen such a barrage of SOURCE: Institutional Research office and THE POST Larry Nighswander, Director of School of Visual Communications CALENDAR ■ 7 p.m. Newman Community, meeting, Christ the King Parish Center, 75 Stewart St. ■ 7 p.m. Society of Professional Journalists, relaxation technique program, 111 Scripps Hall ■ 7 p.m. the Residents' Action Council, meeting, 334 Baker University Center ■ 7:30 p.m. Amnesty International, campaign against torture, 130 Bentley Hall ■ 8 p.m. School of Theater, "The Glass Menagerie," Baker Theater, Kantner Hall INSIDE COLUMN 2 SPORTS 8 CROSSWORD PUZZLE 9 COMICS 9 CLASSIFIEDS g_ TODAY , High: 68 Low: 57 TOMORROW Showers likely. ■ Cloudy I For weather updates, call 593-1717 ! SEE VOTE, PAGE 4 SEE VISCOM, PAGE 4 POSTSCRIPT It's 6 a.m., do you know who your president is? THE POST ON THE WEB httpi/Ahepoat. baker.ohtou.adu